Shoma Sawamura
Shoma Sawamura (沢村 将馬 Sawamura Shōma) is a student and baseball player from Gorin High, first appearing in Rival Schools, then in Project Justice. About Shoma Shoma, the "Explosive Slugger" Shoma is a quick-tempered and impulsive person who hates losing. Because of this, he often loses track of what has to be done. His membership into the school's baseball team was due to the fact that he causes wild fights during games. He's also highly conscious of his height, which happens to be the subject of ridicule by Natsu, who also happens to be a childhood friend of his, aside from Nagare. This concern of his is almost always the reason why they argue, and Shoma never seems to win against her in such verbal wars for such an issue. But if one looks through all of that, he has a strong sense of justice. 'Rival Schools: United By Fate' In Rival Schools: United By Fate, Shoma searches for the people responsible for injuring his older brother and fellow baseball player, Shuuichi, and joins Natsu and Roberto when he finds they are doing similar investigations. Though his fate varies on the characters selected in the game, Nagare's ending in Nekketsu Seisyun Nikki 2 reveals that Shoma is captured and brainwashed by Justice High School before being freed by Nagare. 'Project Justice' In Project Justice, Shoma ends up befriending Momo after she is the apparent victim of an attack by Batsu. However, Momo's insistence that he help her separates him from his friends Natsu and Roberto. After helping her in a number of scuffles, Shoma is betrayed by Momo and finds out she used him to help cause confusion among the various schools. He eventually reunites and reconciles with his friends. Arsenal, Combat Style, and Fighting Strategy As baseball is his specialty sport, most of Shoma's attacks involve pitching baseballs and using his oversized baseball bat, which can also deflect projectile attacks back to his opponents. A handful of his moves, however, have slow startup and/or recovery delay which the opponent can exploit time and again. Knowing how and when to use certain moves will prove to be a challenge even for adept players. His Team-up assist is one of the three most damaging Team-Up techniques in the game, tied with Gan's and Momo's in terms of damage rating. 'Special Attacks' *'Super Fast Ball' (Japanese: 超剛速球 Kyuugou Sokkyuu) - Shoma does a baseball pitch with infinite range. From afar, this can easily be avoided by sidestepping, and has poor recovery delay. This is also usable in the air for keeping approaching opponents at bay. Shoma, however, is vulnerable to counterattack while landing after doing the aerial version. *'Batting Rotation' (Japanese: 大回転打法 Daikaiten Dappou) - Shoma spins while swinging his baseball bat, dealing two hits of damage. Startup is fast, but not the recovery delay. *'Fishing Smash' (Japanese: 一本釣り打法 Ippon Zuri Dappou) - This is Shoma's special throw maneuver. He thrusts his baseball bat at waist-level, and if it connects, he raises the bat together with the latter, then throws the opponent in the opposite direction and to some 'invisible' obstacle in the air, which some speculate to be the 'camera'. It has a long range for such attack, but has very bad recovery delay, giving the opponent ample time to do a Tardy Counter. *'Niagara Drop' (ナイアガラドロップ) - Shoma jumps forward a little, then stomps perpendicularly downwards. If he lands directly above the opponent, this becomes very difficult to block. Because of its fixed range, getting it to hit requires practice; otherwise, it will entirely miss, giving the opponent an opportunity to counterattack. *'Splendid Lead' (Japanese: 豪快リード Goukai Lead) - While constantly sidestepping, Shoma taunts the opponent with his arms outstretched to either side. From this position, Shoma can then follow with either Splendid Sliding or Splendid Kick, depending on the kick button that will be pressed immediately from this position. *'Splendid Sliding' (Japanese: 豪快スライディング Goukai Sliding) - From the Splendid Lead position, Shoma does a sliding kick that must be blocked low, and can also be used as an anti-air move. *'Splendid Kick' (Japanese: 豪快キック Goukai Kick) - From the Splendid Lead position, Shoma does a flying kick aimed at about shoulder- to head-level, depending on the opponent's height. 'Burning Vigor Attacks' *'Dividing Magical Ball' (Japanese: 分身魔球 Bunshin Makyuu) - Powered version of the Fast Ball, and also has infinite range. It has better recovery delay than the Fast Ball, and is usable in the air as well. *'Homerun Hitter' (Japanese: ホームラン打法 Homerun Dappou) - Shoma swings his baseball bat for a homerun, setting the opponent aflame. It will deal little damage if done too close or too far from the opponent. Done at the critical distance (approximately one step away from the opponent), it will knock the opponent towards a random obstacle in the field, scoring a bonus hit. *'Super Killer Sliding' (Japanese: 超殺人スライディング Chou Satsujin Sliding) - Shoma leaps towards the opponent for a dive that must be blocked low. It is of note, however, that a simple punch or kick can entirely foil this attack if timed with the jump sequence before Shoma does the dive that deals the killer slide. 'Team-Up Technique' *'Grand Slam' (グランドスラム) - The active character tosses the opponent into the air before delivering a volleyball spike that sends the latter to an awaiting Shoma, who then swings his baseball bat aimed at the gut, sending the opponent halfway across the field. 'Party-Up Technique' *Shoma does the Hot-Blooded Giant Wheel. Gallery Image:ShomaPt.png|Portrait Image:RivalShoma.png|''Rival Schools'' Image:ShomaArt.png|''Rival Schools'' Image:PJShoma.png|''Project Justice'' Trivia * With regard to his home life, Shoma lives with his brother, Shuuichi, his parents, and his paternal grandfather. * Prior to the events of United by Fate, his brother was sent to Baseball Sparta (Yakyuu Sparta in Japanese), a fictional rigid baseball training camp, by their father. * He excels in physical education, but fares poorly in music and English. * His birthday coincides with one of Japan's national holidays, the National Sports Day. * In Project Justice, an alternate version of Shoma (Shoma2) can be unlocked for use in Free Mode Arcade, Versus, and Training Modes. Regardless of the color of his baseball uniform top, the pants are white, in contrast to his normal form, wherein his pants are of the same color as that of his uniform top. * In the English-language version United by Fate, Shoma's name was romanized as Syoma, which is also a correct way of romanizing his name as per the Japanese fifty-sound system. This was changed in Project Justice, wherein the romanization of his name reflects the Hepburn way of romanizing Japanese names. More about the different ways of Japanese romanization can be found here. * He is voiced by Yūji Ueda. References 'Game and Character Information' Nguyen, John. Project Justice FAQ/Move List by Puar. GameFAQs.com. Published 2001. Last accessed 2 April 2010. Tsai, Peter. FAQ/Movelist for Project Justice (Moero! Justice Gakuen) for Dreamcast/Arcade. Version 1.07. GameFAQs.com. Published 17 July 2002; last updated 13 March 2003. Last accessed 2 April 2010. Cheshire, Sophie. Project Justice: FAQ/Move List by falsehead. Final version. GameFAQs.com. Published 5 November 2001; final update 7 December 2002. Last accessed 2 April 2010. Batsu, the Doctor of Punishment. Shiritsu Justice Gakuen/Rival Schools series: Character Stories FAQ. Version 1.5 (final). GameFAQs.com. Last accessed 2 April 2010. NeoChaosX. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_the_Rival_Schools_series List of characters in the Rival Schools series]. Wikipedia (English). Created 20 August 2007; last updated 30 March 2010. Last accessed 2 April 2010. 'Translations' Kanji translations made possible through the Kanji Romaji Hiragana Convert website. Maruyama, Chiemi. English-Kanji-Japanese/Japanese-Kanji-English Dictionary. Pasig City, Philippines: Persian Gulf Publication, 2002. ISBN 978-971-8796-37. Nakao, Seigo. Random House Japanese-English/English-Japanese Dictionary. United States: Ballantine Books, 1995. ISBN 0-345-40548-X. Category:Rival Schools Characters Category:Characters